Oh, those silly Nigerians

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

What makes the “Nigerian” label so attractive to scammers? Do they truly believe that calling themselves Nigerian somehow makes them more credible? Or are they truly Nigerian?

Here’s one that seems to be going around the dog forums I frequent–it’s been sent to my breeder and posted on one or two breed specific forums:

urgent
Posted by daniel obi on 10/25/2003, 2:58 pm, in reply to “Sorry, it’s me…”
[ip address deleted, not sure if that violates forum rules or not–if someone can tell me how to trace the IP or if it’s okay to post the IP in this forum, let me know]

DEAR SIR/MADAM,
I AM DR DANIEL OBI, COMMISSIONER OF POLICE IN - CHARGE OF DOGS SECTION IN POLICE HEADQUARTERS.I HAVE BEEN MANDATED BY THE POLICE COMMISSION TO SOURCE FOR AN INTERESTED DOG BREEDER OVERSEAS TO SUPPLY THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE WITH 2500 PUPPIES.THESE PUPPIE
S ARE TO BE TRAINED BY OUR PROFESSIONAL TRAINERS TO HELP COMBAT AND DETECT CRIMES ACCORDINGLY.THE PUPS MUST BE BETWEEN 4-5 MONTHS OLD.
THE FERDRAL GOVT OF NIGERIA IS READY TO GIVE UPFRONT PAYMENT TO ANY INTERESTED SUPPLIER BEFORE SUPPLY IS MADE.THIS CONTRACT WILL LAST FOR A PERIOD OF 5 YEARS.
SIR, IF YOU ARE INTERESTED ON THIS OFFER,YOU ARE FREE TO CONTACT ME ON MY PHONE NUMBER 234-803-711-6296 FOR MORE DETAILS.
ALL CORRESPONDENCE SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO MY ALTERNATIVE E-MAIL ADDRESS OR
EXPECTING TO HEAR FROM YOU URGENTLY,
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
DR.DANIEL OBI(CP)
The entire message is [sic], formatting and all. I took out the email addresses just in case, even though the guy freely posts them on boards and in guestbooks and to private emails.

Interesting that the guy offers upfront payment. I wonder what the scam is here, or just trying to get ahold of lots of dogs? This message is being sent to breeders and forums that represent a breed that regularly sells for $1500-2500 for a pup, so I guess he’s hoping to get a lot of them to sell? Strange.

~mixie

2

The guy sends a bank note, you deposit it, send the dog, the bank lets you know the note was a fake, takes back the money. You’re out the dog and the money.

They also do this on eBay a lot.

Nigeria is notorious for having a lot of corruption, and keep in mind that one aspect of a successful scam is relying on the victim’s sense of greed to draw them in. Strangely, most people are not automatically repelled from dealing with suspected crooks but instead find this aspect to be a “feature”.

3

It’s not always Nigeria, though. I received one from Benin last week.

4

Weird. I honestly cannot possibly imagine anyone seeing this and thinking “Wow! What a great, totally legitimate sounding business opportunity!” and arranging to start shipping pups to this guy.
But obviously there are enough suckers in the world to keep them in business. Either that or it’s just one guy who keeps trying different tactics…

5

Huh, I guess in all that careful removal of identifying information, I might have noticed the phone number. Mods, if this is important, please remove it. I don’t know that anyone cares.

6

I got something similar by fax yesterday from South Africa. The cover sheet stated it was being sent by fax instead of regular mail because of the recent anthrax scare. It wanted big bucks for a wonderful business opportunity.

7

It started out in Nigeria, but now has spread throughout Africa.

I collect these things. The 42 I have so far involve, in addition to Nigeria:

Benin
Cote d’Ivoire/Ivory Coast
Democratic Republic of Congo
Ghana
Guinea-Bissau
Senegal
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Togo

Plus one from Haiti

I’m constantly amazed at how many different wives and children Gen. Abacha of Nigeria had, and how many of them ended up with $50 million each.
Also, just on the basis of the letters I have received, that there seems to be at least $2 billion in U.S. dollars and gold bullion sitting around in warehouses, old trunks, and what-have-you in West Africa.

8

ftg hit the nail on the head – I doubt anyone thinks these things are legit. The poor fools that are taken in by these are thinking they’re making out due to someone else’s problems or because they’re helping someone run some sort of smuggling “under the radar” (so to speak) or even think they’re doing the scamming themselves! I have little empathy for anyone taken in by these sorts of things …

9

I think i have a new country, Angola:

(Contact info removed by me)

The worrying thing is that at least some people must fall for this, or they wouldn’t bother. The civil war in Angola has been over for 18 months now, you would think they would get their facts right! A trace of the originating IP in the header leads me to a server in Lagos, Nigeria, I wonder if they all come from there in reality.

10

Many of them sit around in internet cafes in Benin sending these things out (internet access seems to be cheaper in Benin than in Nigeria).

11

A search for the IP shows that it does in fact originate in Nigeria. That’s hillarious.

12

I believe this site http://j-walk.com/other/conf/index.htm gives a good insite into the mind of one of these spammers. And this http://www.geocities.com/steerp1ke/David_Ehi.html site gives the best respones to a Nigerian Spam letter that I have ever seen.

13

I’ve received many, beginning about ten years ago when they came via USPS in brown envelopes with the flap on a skinny side. I could usually tell from the addressing that they’d gotten my name from an industry directory.

Almost all have been of the general form of, “I’m Dr. Obe Wan Kenobe of the Nigerian National Oil Company, and I’ve managed to embezzle XX million bucks. Because I trust people I’ve never met, I’ll give you a big cut if you help me spirit my ill-gotten gains out of the country.”

Several have also been of the relative of deposed/rebel leader type, as well.

All of those establish right away that there is some degree of larceny involved.

As noted above, it’s hard to feel much pity for those who respond.

I have though, recently, received some variations.

One claimed to be from the “Committee for National Rebird” that was attempting to recover funds for previous scam victims. It contained a memorable line something like, “How much are you a dupe?” Heh, scam you and toss in an insult while we’re at it.

Another I received yesterday really did not include a commitment to larceny - a more traditional approach to scamming, perhaps? It told the story how Barrister Chewbacca had been attempting to find an heir to the considerable estate of American expatriate Dr. Thomas XXXXX befor the government swallowed it up. The XXXXX was my given name, which is most commonly seen as a surname. There software is progressing.

My take on the OP’s scammer is that he’s not going to send any fake bank notes, and he doesn’t want any pooches. Some sort of licensing fees, import taxes or whatnot will pop up before the first doggie embarks. The promise of “upfront” payment just helps set the hook.

They don’t have dogs in Africa?

14

I’ve gotten the usual “URGENT REQUEST FOR BUSINESS ASSISTENCE” ones from government ministers, princes, wives/children of assassinated dicators, etc. I’ve also gotten more unusual ones, such as a recent one informing me I had won a lottery I had never entered.

But now they are getting even more bizarre: I’ve been getting requests for help in setting up charitable foundations.

Here are two of the odder ones:

This one’s even weirder:

15

Well, they have these anyway. Cute little buggers, but I s’psect training them’d be a real bitch.